In former times, brick walls were load bearing structures. In contemporary building structures bricks, or other masonry elements, or other visible finished surface elements, are rarely load-bearing and tend more often to be employed as surface cladding on the exterior face of load-bearing structure.
When mounting face brick or stone veneer on the face of a wall structure, it is common to support the first row of bricks or stone, or veneer on a steel support. The steel support may be termed a shelf angle, and may extend outward from the wall structure, and may run along, or have a major dimension extending in, a direction that is generally horizontal and cross-wise to the wall. The steel support is mounted to the on the wall before brick-laying commences. The steel support may be welded to a steel anchoring system embedded in the wall. Alternatively, the steel support may be carried in spaced apart brackets that have themselves been mounted to the load bearing wall structure.